i like that idea brian0 maybe like a minni pc just for that instead of a big laptop carrying around , like these super cell phones now adays w the small keypad and 2x2 screen. fabio the heart rate would be kool u can also check when ur buddy is panicking i like the heartrate too

Heart rate, if used might be helpful, but then you'd need to know more precise info on tissue density and the number of cubic feeet of air consumed at what depths for absorbtion rate. In that case, hydration would also be a useful factor. The most commonly used method of gas absorbtion measurement is a doppler bubble counter. If this could be used after a dive, during the surface interval and before a repetitive dive, you'd have a great picture of what is going on in the the tissues. If this could be programmed to average over time, it would become intuitive for the conditions in real time.

The best resource that I know of for information on DCS data collection is Diver's Alert Network.Take a look at the following link an go to "All Other Inquiries". These are the people that pioneered this technology.

All the things posted are great ideas and I don't down them a bit. However if you want more people to use computers...make them cheaper. I am not saying skim and make a nonfunctional device to kill people.I have 3 computers for 2 divers. I always carry a spare incase mine or my wifes dies. Has not happened yet but if it should the one with the failed puter could continue the dive and go on. I will go to add that my backups are bottom of the line stuff and I am going to buy another this season so we each have a backup, but they are expensive even for cheap ones. If you want to make me fork out some bucks for something though on the other hand. Give me a full decompression computer with a basic GPS screen on it. Nothing fancy full color stuff just the basic 1st gen GPS lat/long data and rough led picture of area. This would not be very usefull inland but when doing beach dives it would be sweet.

I have three dive computers. The best two, an Oceanic Pro Plus 2, and a Suunto Vytec, leave little to be desired while at depth, but there are a few items that would be pretty simple to do that I would like (I also happen to be a microprocessor controlled electronics design engineer.)

1. Logging. The Vytec and PP2 both have USB interfaces, and that's great, but it would be nice if they could remember more data. Most people don't log immediately before and after a dive, but rather much later after the trip. It would be nice if one could enter more log page info into the computer and have it remember it. Particularly air temp, dive type, and weight used.

It would be particularly cool if you could download a list of equipment from a PC via USB so you could check off which equipment you dove with and enter the lead weight you used and if it was OK. Weighting for different dive setups is one thing for which a log is great. Being able to download pick lists from a computer would be unique among dive computers as far as I know. As memory is so cheap now, and the USB interface is already a fact of life on higher end computers, it wouldn't take much more to make a lot more use of the feature. Such a feature could also be used to download a quick reference list displayable just before diving (last minute equip. check.), and while diving (like a wrist slate.)

Being able to record GPS coordinates before a dive, and compass directional info before/after & during would be fantastic. Don't need a GPS or compass built-in, just ability to enter and have it logged with the dive data. When you find something underwater, it's nice to remember how to get back to it.

The above would likely require a larger display like on the Pro Plus 2. It would be really cool if one could record a 10-30 second voice entry with each dive to enter reminders about whatever. That would download to the computer in an audio file identified with the date and dive number so it could be played back on the PC. Microphones and flash memory are cheap and durable.

2. A simple thing that would help me would be an adjustable minimum dive interval. When shallow diving with repeated surfacing for equipment change / stowage, the computers keep getting confused and logging multiple dives for what is really one extended foray. It would all be fixed if I could set the computer to "enter dive mode and stay there".

3. Another simple thing is to be able to review the last dive immediately on surfacing -- the Oceanic computers "lock out" the user for the pre-programmed 10 minute surface interval the computers use to decide a dive is "over".

How about being able to play Space Invaders while waiting at deco stops?

Ask and ye shall receive. Sounds to as though MuckDiver and Fabio ought to collaborate on some of these ideas. I still think that, if a compass feature were integrated that recorded the headings and times, you could revisit an object/terrain feature fairly reliably. Looking forward to more ideas.

It would also be awesome to integrate an interface to an electronic nav chart that would plot the approximate location underwater so that you could pull up on top of or right next to it on the surface. Depth readings might help unless in an area where tides are extreme.